St Helens head coach Paul Wellens believes his side were architects of their own downfall in their derby defeat to Wigan Warriors on Friday night. The Saints were beaten 18-4 at the Totally Wicked Stadium despite taking the lead in the game in the opening few minutes.
Jack Welsby was the man that created that try, setting up Deon Cross to finish in the corner, but in truth, that was the last clear cut chance the Saints created on what was another frustrating night in attack for Wellens’ side, who did dominate big periods of the game.
Ultimately, Wigan were clinical enough to make the Saints pay for their lack of edge and scored three tries, with Jake Wardle, Liam Marshall and Jai Field all getting over in Merseyside. And, after the game, Wellens was left lamenting another frustrating evening.
“Really disappointed,” Wellens told Sky Sports. “I thought we started the game exceptionally well but we had a bit of a lapse in concentration midway through that first half and it never really got much better for us.
“I just think we were big contributors to our own downfall tonight. That’s to take nothing away from the opposition, they deserved to win the game but at this moment in time we’re doing 90 per cent of the things we talk about during the week.
“You can get away with it in some games but the team we played last week, the team we played tonight, the team we play next week, they don’t give you that extra 10 per cent, we have to find it. The onus is very much on us there.”
Asked what his side have to do to start beating the bigger teams in the competition, Wellens added; “We have to find the improvements that we’re talking about. We have beaten Leeds home and away recently, I would consider them a top side but I can understand the point of view, your Wigans and Hull KRs, we haven’t beat them for a while.
“That’s our challenge moving forward, one that I’m excited for and one that I feel we can rise to.”
Welsby started the game at loose-forward but was withdrawn after 30 minutes of the game before being re-introduced in the second half. Speaking on that decision, Wellens said: “There was no issue. He’s a guy who’s playing in the outside backs defending in the middle and as you can imagine, that’s quite taxing.
“We decided to fill his lungs up so he could go out in the second half and have an impact on the game. I thought to Jack’s credit in a position that’s relatively unfamiliar, I thought he handled himself really well.”
